17 innovations to increase water availability and efficiency receive up to $3 million in funding and acceleration support

Today at World Water Week in Stockholm, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Sweden’s development agency (Sida), and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of The Netherlands (MFA-NL) announced 17 award nominees for their program, Securing Water for Food: A Grand Challenge for Development. Overall, the program partners will provide $32 million in funding to game-changing innovations that can produce more food using less water.

I am very pleased to announce that Dr. Robert Bertram, an agriculture expert with nearly 30 years of experience at USAID, has been named Chief Scientist in the agency’s Bureau for Food Security. In this new position, Rob will serve as a key adviser on a range of technical and program issues to advance global food security and nutrition. He will lead our evidence-based efforts to advance research, technology, and implementation in support of Feed the Future, President Obama’s global hunger and food security initiative.

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is providing an additional $5 million to help combat the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. The announcement brings USAID’s commitment for the Ebola response to nearly $19.6 million since the outbreak was first reported in March 2014.

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) airlifted more than 16 tons of medical supplies and emergency equipment to Monrovia, Liberia on August 24 as part of its ongoing efforts to combat the West Africa Ebola outbreak. The shipment came from USAID’s warehouse in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and included 10,000 sets of personal protective equipment (PPE), two water treatment systems, two portable water tanks capable of storing 10,000 liters each, and 100 rolls of plastic sheeting, which can be used in the construction of Ebola treatment centers. The critical commodities will be distributed to affected areas throughout Liberia.

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the National Science Foundation (NSF), and the National Cancer Institute (NCI) today announce 46 new research projects that advance the scientific and technical capacity of both the United States and partner countries in critical areas of development. The projects, spanning 23 countries, are funded through the Partnerships for Enhanced Engagement in Research (PEER) program, a joint initiative designed to foster collaborative global research. Through the competitively awarded program, USAID directly supports researchers in developing countries who work with U.S. government-funded researchers.

Today marks World Humanitarian Day, a day designated by the UN General Assembly to remember the 22 UN and relief agency staff who lost their lives in a bombing in Baghdad 11 years ago. Since its designation in 2008, August 19th has become an occasion to celebrate the commitment of relief workers and honor fallen aid workers who have mad

Today, the United States will provide approximately $180 million to help feed the people of South Sudan, who now face the worst food security situation in the world. This food aid includes a release from the Department of Agriculture’s Bill Emerson Humanitarian Trust as well as funds for the U.S. Agency for International Development to provide aid to those in need. Since the start of this crisis, the United States has provided the South Sudanese with more than $456 million in humanitarian aid.

The situation is extremely dire for the tens of thousands of innocent people in northern and central Iraq under assault by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. Working in support of the Government of Iraq, the United States is providing humanitarian aid to those in need, particularly the men, women, and children trapped on Mount Sinjar without food, water, and shelter. To help manage and coordinate the U.S. government’s humanitarian aid effort and responding to the request of Ambassador Beecroft, I am deploying a Disaster Assistance Response Team to Iraq.

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is working to provide desperately needed humanitarian aid to the tens of thousands of innocent children, women, and men displaced by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant’s (ISIL) assault on Sinjar and surrounding areas of northern Iraq.

U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) officials announced this week more than $12 million in additional funding to help curb the West African Ebola outbreak. Since the outbreak was first reported in March 2014, USAID has committed a total of $14.55 million to support the response.

As part of the U.S. Africa Leaders Summit, earlier today, the Government of Sweden formally announced a commitment to catalyze investments of one billion dollars to President Barack Obama’s Power Africa initiative. The commitment from Sweden represents, for example, grants for distribution and transmission projects, and guarantees and loans for Power Africa projects. Sweden’s engagement and financial guarantees, along with those from the United States, will unlock additional private sector investment that is so critical for transforming the energy sector in Africa.

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) will be deploying a Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) to West Africa to coordinate the U.S. Government’s response to the Ebola outbreak, which has so far sickened more than 1,600 people, including nearly 900 who have died from the disease.

Today at the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit, U.S. and African officials announced that more than $10 billion will be realized through responsible private investments as part of the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition, which President Obama launched at the 2012 G8 Summit at Camp David. These new investments are expected to create about 650,000 jobs and reach over 5 million smallholder farmers in initial New Alliance and Grow Africa countries.

Partnership will build resilience to chronic stresses and increasing shocks across Africa and Asia

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and The Rockefeller Foundation announced today a $100 million Global Resilience Partnership that lays out a bold new vision for building resilience to chronic stresses and increasing shocks in communities across Africa and Asia.

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) announced today that the federal government met its small business federal contracting goal for the first time in eight years, awarding 23.39 percent in federal contracts to small businesses totaling $83.1 billion of eligible contracting dollars.

The Saving Lives at Birth: A Grand Challenge for Development partners today announced 30 Round 4 award nominees at the closing forum of the annual DevelopmentXChange where the innovators showcased innovative ideas to save the lives of mothers and newborns in developing countries, and competed for funding to realize and scale their vision.